Scottish universities told to act on zero-hours contracts

The letters are a follow-up to a call back in October 2013 for universities to commit to ending the use of zero-hours contracts. UCU says that since then only Edinburgh and Glasgow have conducted constructive discussions with the union and it has written again now to the other institutions.

The move comes after MPs on Westminster's Scottish Affairs Select Committee found thousands of employees were suffering 'abuse and exploitation' on zero-hours contracts. Its report expressed alarm at the extent to which zero-hours contracts are used by Scotland's higher education sector. It said that in some cases universities are being kept going by a staff who earn less than the minimum wage and described the situation as one of 'unashamed exploitation'.

Mary Senior, UCU Scotland official, said: 'The widespread use of zero-hours contracts in Scottish universities continues to be an embarrassment. However, the fact that our largest universities can commit to working with us to address the problem, shows that better workforce planning without zero-hours contracts is possible. 

'It is now time that the other universities followed Glasgow and Edinburgh's example and made a serious commitment to end exploitative zero-hours contracts.'

The STUC estimates some 100,000 Scots are on zero-hours contracts, which an influential committee of MPs said is leading to a 'two-tier workforce' where staff who speak out against the arrangements can find their hours withdrawn or suffer bullying and harassment and bullying.

Scottish universities came in for particular criticism in report from the Scottish affairs select committee report with 79 per cent of staff on the deals, compared with 53 per cent across the UK.